Grow Your Accounting Business Online With WordPress

The digital age has not only revolutionized businesses worldwide, it has also created growing challenges and great opportunities for businesses offering accounting services.

Online Challenges For Certified Public Accountants

Today, more than ever, accountants must work harder to remain competitive, obtain new clients, and keep their current clientele. Not only do you have to maintain an active presence in the communities and industries you serve, you must also maintain a strong presence online. This includes having an effective website and searching for smarter ways to grow your business online.

As well as investing dollars marketing offline, you will probably find that in order to compete with other accounting businesses, increasingly larger amounts of their marketing budget will need to be assigned towards the development and maintenance of a website that can attract new prospects, engage visitors, outrank the competition in search engines and give your business a wider degree of marketing exposure online.

This means that your website not only has to look professional, your pages have to be fast-loading, and your website has to be easy to navigate, but even more importantly, the needs of your website may change in time and some areas may need to be frequently updated. This requires the implementation of a sound website and content management strategy.

Another challenge that accounting firms (and all other professions) face online, is that they have only about thirty seconds to give visitors what they are searching for or they will go elsewhere to get their needs met.

“Websites have evolved into central information hubs where service information is still present but enhanced with web portals, hyperlinks to state and federal sites, and a variety of free tools.”

Michael Alter, http://www.accountingweb.com/technology/accounting-software/tips-for-improving-your-website

Opportunities For CPAs In The Online Economy

As well as facing a number of business and technology changes, there are also loads of online opportunities available to businesses in the accounting sector that can adapt to meet online challenges and can think outside the box in terms of improving their online marketing skills.

In this article, you will learn ways and opportunities to attract and engage new visitors and create significant improvements in your business results online.

As well as providing general website improvement tips, we also focus on the benefits and advantages of using WordPress to power your accounting or financial services business website.

For more information about the benefits and advantages of using the WordPress content management system, see these articles:

• Learn Why A Poorly Built Website Can Lose You Customers
• The Small Business Owner’s Guide To WordPress

Useful Tips For Improving Your Website

In this section we will show you how to improve your accounting website and get better results online. We show you what web pages you need, what content works best for accounting websites, layout and navigation structure, etc.

If you need any help with website planning, check out the detailed step-by-step guide we have written here: A Comprehensive Guide To Web Site Planning For Business Owners

Essential Pages

All websites need some essential web pages. Let’s discuss the pages your  need and how to set up your website for best results.

Products And Services

You need to include a page that lists your services or products.

Your page should include all the products and services you offer, such as:

• Business – business planning, company structures, accounting, payroll, financial statement compilation, bookkeeping, financing, forecasting, budgeting, strategic planning, consulting, etc.
• Taxation – preparation, planning, reviewing, auditing, advising, problem resolution
• Investment strategies
• Corporate accounting
• Wealth creation
• Superannuation/retirement plan (401k) advice
• Audit risk assessment and assurance
• Quickbooks – setup, training, tune up, and support
• Specialist services – mergers, acquisitions, information technology, secretarial, rentals, trusts, fiduciary accounting, succession planning, selling businesses, transfers, etc.
• Lending and leasing

List all of the services you provide, not just the ones you specialize in. Provide your visitors with information that will educate them about the benefits of using these services and direct them to your contact or appointment booking page.

About Us Page

The ‘About Us’ page should give a description of your business and what it stands for, its unique approach, causes supported, etc.

This page should also mention any awards, accreditations, certifications, recognitions, publications, associations, etc., that you can use to promote your company and position it above your competitors.

(List all of your business awards accreditations, recognitions, certifications, associations, publications, etc. in the About Us page. Screenshot image source: deloitte.com)

Core Team

Are you looking for simple ideas to grow your business online and get prospective clients to stay longer on your site? Then something you can do, is make it easier for prospective clients to get to know, like and trust you, your team and your organization better.

Prospective clients need to relate to your business. A great way to do that is to have a page that introduces your employees or team members. It should include a photo and a brief bio. Since most visitors are probably not familiar with accounting terms it should tell who they are and what their specialties are. You may also want to explain what those specialties mean. This page should also include social buttons so your visitors can follow selected team members on their social pages.

On this page, make sure to outline each employee’s expertise and qualifications, why they are an asset to your team, and more importantly, how they can help add value to your clients’ business.

(Make sure to add a page that introduces your staff to prospective new clients. Screenshot source: deepsky.com)

If you need help how to add a simple team members directory to your web site with no coding skills required, see this step-by-step tutorial: Adding A Staff Directory To Your WordPress Site

Career Opportunities

This is a listing of career opportunities within the company. This page can include training provided, employee benefits, professional development, etc. You can also include case studies of recruits who have established a solid career path thanks to your firm and information about upcoming career opportunities in the accounting industry.

Also include a positions available section in this page. If there are no positions currently available, consider inviting people to return periodically to the page, join your newsletter, follow you on social media, etc.

Testimonials And Case Studies

Testimonials and case studies are a great way to show prospective clients what kind of financial solutions you will implement to help solve their problems. By adding a page with case studies and testimonials from past clients, you will also help to establish social proof online.

(Add a page with case studies and client reviews. Screenshot source: pcg-services.com)

We have written extensively on using testimonials, case studies and reviews to grow your business online here: Improve Your Sales With Captivating Client Testimonials

Contact Page

Having a functional contact page is crucial.

Your contact page should include:

• Business Name
• Your address
• Phone number
• Facsimile
• Email address
• Google Map and directions
• Web URL
• Contact form
• Request for more information – contact details
• Social media URLs
• Live chat (optional)

If you operate in several areas you will want to make this clear when showing your address and contact information.

You could also include links to an FAQ section, frequently-visited pages, special offers, support area, newsletter opt-in form, blog, etc.

Add A Blog Section

A blog can be a very powerful marketing tool. Blogs are built around a content management system that allows you to promote your business using timely content such as industry announcements, product updates, useful articles, discussions on current topics, videos, webinars, etc.

If you already have an established accounting site, then consider adding a WordPress-driven blog to promote your organization.

If you don’t have a website yet, or your existing site is very hard to manage or not giving you the results you want, then WordPress can serve as both your business website and business blog.

Not many businesses know this, but WordPress can turn into an automated traffic machine that can instantly deliver new visitors to your website, simply by publishing regular content to your site.

(WordPress can automate your traffic generation)

Go here to learn more about this: Web Traffic Blueprint – Discover How To Turn Your WordPress Site Into An Automated Traffic Machine

Legal Information Pages

It’s essential for accounting and financial services businesses to have a website that complies will all legal requirements online, not just for establishing credibility with prospective clients, but also to ensure that you are not breaching local, regional and federal laws and regulations wherever you provide services to.

Adding the legal pages below to your accounting or financial services site will help keep you out of trouble with most regulatory authorities, third-party service providers, and other potential sources of threats and legal inconveniences:

• Contact Page
• Privacy Statement
• Terms And Conditions Of Use
• Website Disclaimer
• Affiliate Agreement
• Anti-Spam Policy
• Compensation Disclosure
• DMCA Notice
• Earnings Disclaimer
• External Links Policy
• Health Disclaimers
• Refund Policy
• Video/Audio Terms
• etc.

We have written a comprehensive article on adding legal pages to your site. To learn more about this go here: The Importance Of Adding Legal Pages To Your Site

Improve The Content On Your Site

In today’s globally competitive economy, being generous with content that educates and informs readers has become one of the key differentiators for businesses selling similar products or services.

Providing great content with useful advice and tips will get your readers sharing your content and coming back for more. This is the most effective way to inform and teach your visitors and prospective clients about your business.

For example, for an accounting business, topics could include the following:

• How balance sheets work
• Profit and loss statements
• Directors’ duties and legal responsibilities
• How to present accounts for non-profit activities
• Cashflow planning advice
• Maximizing business insurance cover
• Protecting revenues
• Tips on structuring your self-managed retirement fund
• Dos and don’ts of … (e.g. purchasing vs leasing, setting up payroll systems, etc.)

You can also create a series of informative articles that will help your your readers gain a better understanding of accounting services, such as forensic accounting, tax accounting, business budgeting, reducing business debt, understanding accounting concepts, etc.

Remember to use the same keywords and terminology in your content that your readers will be searching for.

We recommend subscribing to our Content Marketing Email Training Series. You will receive a comprehensive series of training emails with actionable information that will show exactly how to drive more traffic to your website or blog, save money creating high-quality content for your site visitors and grow your business online using content marketing strategies. It’s not only a great course with loads of useful information, it’s also completely FREE!

Improving User Experience

Improving your user experience (generally referred to as UX) will help to keep visitors coming back and using your site. This section will show you different ways to improve your visitor engagement and user experience.

Adding RSS Feeds

An RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feed provides lots of benefits for your business.

If you provide information that adds value to others, other businesses will want to syndicate your content.

Some of the benefits of having other businesses syndicate your content, include:

• All of your content updates are in one place
• Content distribution doesn’t rely on email
• Can be shared online
• Allows users to subscribe
• A feed provides links to your content
• RSS feeds can be submitted to RSS directories and aggregators
• RSS provides several ways for your readers to receive your content (e.g. subscribers can read your content on their mobile device using a feed reader)
• It’s built into WordPress

There are also a number of benefits to adding syndicated content to your website from other websites, such as the fact that you don’t have to write, manage or update the content.

You can find many useful RSS feeds by visiting sites of relevant government departments or respected industry bodies.

Here are some exaples of RSS feeds you could add to your accounting site:

• Taxation Policy Center: http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/press/rss.cfm
• Australian Taxation Office: https://www.ato.gov.au/RSS-news-feeds.aspx
• Canada Revenue Agency: http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/rssfeeds/
• UK HM Revenue and Customs: http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/rss/rss.htm
• South Africa Revenue Service: http://www.sars.gov.za/Pages/RSS-Feeds.aspx

(RSS feeds can help to improve your accounting website’s user experience.)

Checklists & Forms

Adding checklists and forms to your site is a great way to help increase user engagement and add value to your visitors. Forms and checklists can give them step-by-step instructions and resources to perform a necessary task. Forms and checklists are great business planning tools.

You can provide online or downloadable checklists and forms covering a range of topics such as:

• How To Set Up A Business
• Rental Property Checklist
• Fundraising Governance Checklist
• Disclosure Checklists
• Company Tax Checklist
• Trust Tax Checklist
• Income Tax Variation Forms

Other Tools

Providing useful tools, gadgets and applications for businesses on your website is a great way to increase visitor engagement and add significant value to your target audience. Calculators, such as loan and tax calculators, are useful tools for accounting websites. Others can include time cards, and retirement and interest calculators.

In part 2, we take a look at a number of online tools you can add to your website using WordPress plugins and themes that improve your seo, improve user engagement and drive more web traffic to your business.

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This is the end of section 1.

Click on this link to continue reading:

• The Ultimate Guide On How To Build And Grow Your Accounting Or Financial Services Business Online Successfully With WordPress – Part Two

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